ACCT Employee and Volunteer Technology Use Policy

Policy:
To maintain professional conduct while using official ACCT email and other communication/digital technology platforms such as Slack, Zoom, GoToMeeting, etc., and digital storage and information technology services like Google Workspace Shared Drives, Google Docs, Jot Form, etc.

Purpose:
The policy covers the appropriate use ACCT information technology services used to create, store, share, communicate and use Work Product. It applies to all employees, Board Members, committee members, or other volunteers operating on behalf of ACCT.

Procedure:

ACCT Digital Storage and Information Technology Services
1. Requirements of Use. All users of Google Workspace Shared Drives, Google Workspace email accounts, and other information technology services controlled or licensed by ACCT, must have completed the ACCT Conflict of Interest and Non-Disclosure Agreement Form (https://www.acctinfo.org/coi-nda).
2. Shared Drives
  1. All volunteer work (i.e., edits, comments, suggestions to documents, etc.) shall be done in the Shared Drive on the shared document, or completed using personally licensed software, by hand, or by any other reasonable means and digitally uploaded to the Shared Drive.
  2. The Chair of each volunteer group, unless another member of the group is assigned to this role, is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of Shared Drives. Maintenance and upkeep include but are not limited to:
    1. training volunteers to use the storage and naming conventions listed below unless those conventions impede the work being done in the drive;
    2. maintaining folder organization conventions;
    3. adding new group members to the Shared Drive and removing outgoing members; and
    4. maintaining a list of documents that must be kept, such as terms of reference, rosters, etc.
3. Ownership of Work Product.
  1. ACCT is the owner of Work Product sent in ACCT emails or stored in Shared Drives and other information technology services.
  2. Access to information technology platforms and ACCT Work Product shall only be shared with the approval of the Committee Chair or ACCT Staff.
4. Personal Use. Use of ACCT technology and platforms such as JotForm, Zoom, and Slack, etc., are for work purposes only and NOT for personal use unless approved and authorized by the ACCT Executive Director.
5. File Storage & Naming Conventions. To ensure that the Association's file storage systems remain well organized and also easy to inherit and acclimate to as a new Volunteer, users should adhere to the following when naming files for setting up folder structures:
  1. Files must have the following date format at the beginning of the filename: YYYY-MM-DD
  2. Filename will contain an indicator of the type of document following the date:
    - FORM
    - MINUTES
    - POLICY
    - REPORT
    - LETTER
    - IMAGE
    - NOTES
  3. Files should use additional obvious keywords regarding content for ID as well as searchability
  4. Any draft documents should have "DRAFT" at the end of the filename
    - EXAMPLES:
      1. 2018-06-23 FORM Conflict of Interest – J Smith
      2. 2018-01-24 MINUTES VAP Meeting
      3. 2018-03-04 POLICY Association Email Account Use – DRAFT
  5. Any group of files on a recurring specific topic/subject that is also specific to a range of dates will be stored in a folder/subfolder by topic/subject labeled with that date range
    1. EXAMPLES:
      1. Folder - "Topic Name"
      2. Subfolder - "Topic Name 2018"
  6. No duplicate files are allowed. Individual files may exist in only one place, and that is the folder belonging to the applicable topic, volunteer group, and/or department. If someone needs access, share the link/folder as appropriate, or send them the file directly. DO NOT copy the file to a new folder.
ACCT Email and Digital Communication Platforms
1. Prohibited Use. It is strictly prohibited to:
  1. Send or forward any communication containing libelous, defamatory, offensive, racist, or obscene remarks, or any other material that might embarrass or bring discredit upon ACCT. If you receive an email of this nature, you must promptly notify the Executive Director.
  2. Resend private or Confidential Information that reasonably appears to be without the direct consent of the person initiating the email / message / communication.
  3. Send unsolicited mass emails messages or chain mail.
  4. Deceive or attempt to deceive the recipient as to the source of the message.
2. Personal Use. Use of ACCT resources (Google Workspace account) for personal emails is prohibited. Sending Chain Emails or joke emails from an ACCT email account is prohibited. Virus and other malware warnings and mass mailings from ACCT shall be approved by the Office Manager and /or ACCT Executive Director before sending.
3. Monitoring. All communications utilizing the ACCT system is the property of ACCT. ACCT may monitor messages without prior notice, but is not obligated to do so.
4. Privacy Statement. All ACCT emails shall include the following privacy statement (please note that email addresses through ACCTinfo.org automatically append this to every outgoing message and don't need manual interaction to be in compliance):
  
  Notice of Confidentiality
  
  The information contained in and transmitted within this email is CONFIDENTIAL. It is intended only for the individual or entity designated. You are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, copying, or use of or reliance upon the information contained in and transmitted with this email by or to anyone other than the recipient designated above by the sender is UNAUTHORIZED and STRICTLY PROHIBITED. If you have received this email in error, please notify this office immediately and upon authorization by the sender destroy the information contained herein.
5. Enforcement. Anyone found to have violated this policy may be subject to disciplinary action.
Work Product
1. Means any and all works, ideas, inventions, improvements, discoveries, designs, writings, works of authorship, presentations, processes, formulas, intellectual property, patents and all other documentation (whether or not patentable or copyrightable or constituting trade secrets and whether or not reduced to writing or practice), that are authored, conceived, developed, first reduced to practice or discovered by volunteer or employee (whether alone or with others volunteers or employees)
  1. in the performance of serving the ACCT as an employee or volunteer,
  2. that derive from information or materials the volunteer or employee received from ACCT or an ACCT volunteer groups,
  3. that relate to or result from the actual or anticipated business, work, research, or investigation of ACCT.
2. Unless otherwise agreed to in writing, the volunteer or employee hereby assigns all right, title and interest in and to such Work Product (including all intellectual property embodied therein) to ACCT.
3. All Company Work Product and all information related thereto shall be considered Confidential and Proprietary Information and shall be subject to all the restrictions set forth herein.
4. Transmittal and Sharing of Work Product. The transmittal of Confidential Information without the consent and approval of the Executive Director, Board Chair, Committee Chair, or as authorized by employee agreements or terms of reference, to parties who are not authorized (not an employee, volunteer, or an approved party) may be considered an Unauthorized Disclosure.
Artificial Intelligence Use
ACCT supports the responsible use of artificial intelligence ("AI") tools to assist employees and volunteers in performing Association work. The following requirements apply when employees and volunteers use AI tools for Association work:
1. Risk and Information Protection. Consider reasonably foreseeable risks and appropriate safeguards to protect personal and confidential information, intellectual property, and the reputation and goodwill of ACCT, its staff, members, and volunteers.
2. Human Review and Accountability. Apply appropriate human review before distributing AI-assisted Work Product outside the internal staff or volunteer group responsible for the work. The nature and extent of review should be appropriate to the work and may include fact-checking, substantive analysis, editing, or completion of applicable approval processes. Accountability for the accuracy, quality, and labeling, as appropriate, of AI Work Product remains with the individuals and groups responsible for that work.
3. Transparency. Take reasonable steps to identify or disclose audio, video, images, writing, or other media that has been generated or materially modified by AI when failure to do so could reasonably be misleading or unethical.
4. Compliance with Existing Requirements. AI shall not be used to circumvent or bypass Association policies, procedures, approval requirements, or governance processes. For example, AI may assist with work related to standards development but shall not be used to develop, approve, or modify standards language outside the applicable consensus process.
Definitions
1. Chain Email. An email sent to successive people. The body of the note typically has directions to send out multiple copies and promises good luck or money if the direction is followed.
2. Confidential Information. Information is considered confidential if it can be damaging to the ACCT or its members' reputation or market standing, and (i) is, as of the time of its disclosure or thereafter becomes part of the public domain through no fault of the receiving party; (ii) can be demonstrated by credible evidence: (a) as rightfully known to the receiving party prior to the time of its disclosure, or (b) to have been independently developed by the receiving party; (iii) is subsequently learned from a third party not under a confidentiality obligation to the disclosing party; or, (iv) is required to be disclosed pursuant to a duly authorized subpoena, court order, or government authority, provided that the receiving party has provided prompt written notice and assistance to the disclosing party prior to such disclosure, so that such party may seek a protective order or other appropriate remedies to protect against disclosure.is not currently available in the public domain.
3. Email. The electronic transmission of information through a mail protocol such as SMTP or IMAP. Typical email clients include Gmail and Microsoft Outlook.
4. Forwarded Email. Email resent from an internal network to an outside point.
5. Shared Drive. Common file sharing repository maintained by ACCT. Examples may include Google Workplace Shared Drive, Slack, etc.
6. Unauthorized Disclosure. The intentional or unintentional revealing of restricted information to people, both inside and outside ACCT, who do not have a need to know that information.
7. Virus Warning. An email containing warnings about viruses or malware. The overwhelming majority of these emails turn out to be a hoax and contain bogus information, usually intent only on frightening or misleading users.

Adopted: Email Policy - September 12, 2013, Technology Use Policy - February 18, 2021

Revised: October 6, 2026